THE VARIETY BOOK CONTAINING Life Sketches and Reminiscences BY LEWIS FORD BOSTON "WASHINGTON PRESS: " GEO. E. CROSBY & Co., PRINTERS 383 WASHINGTON STREET 1892 PREFACE. AM quite certain, that seldom, if ever a person of my ability, attempts to write, or compile a book and I am aware, that to some, my object, and the matter presented, may appear comparatively small and insignificant nevertheless, for aught I know, my identity as one of the human family may be to me as important as any other person's identity is to them. Besides, when I consider that there are good people of all grades of literary, intellectual, and moral conditions, and that they are all (by force of circumstances and conditions) chained together, and graded, forming one complete line, hand in hand, from the highest to the lowest, I take it for granted that I occupy a place somewhere in that line, not another person's place, but simply my own place; and while I may not be able to reach, or fathom, and appropriate the thought of Ralph Waldo Emerson, or the person at the head of the line, I may be able to receive and make use of the thought of the person next above, designed to help me upward, while I in turn pass the best I have to the person next below, and thus every individual in the line is in some way helping another to higher and grander conditions of living. And therefore, every one's place is important to the world's advancement as a whole, and however insignificant the work may be, I cannot feel that my mission in this world is complete, without the publication of this book, for the benefit of any and all who may be aided thereby. I believe every item in this book to be truthful and correct though I do not vouch for the correctness of all, as many items herein published are clippings, or ideas gathered from papers and publications by others, which appeared to me valuable, and therefore inserted. OCTOBER, 1892. Lewis Ford CONTENTS. WRITINGS BY THE AUTHOR, ALSO BY GARRISON AND PILLSBURY. THE HUTCHINSON FAMILY (THE SINGERS) THE NOTED WOMAN'S CRUSADE OF 1873 SOME OF THE LIFE EXPERIENCES OF THE AUTHOR LICENTIOUSNESS AND ITS EFFECTS, THE AGE OF CONSENT, ETC. FORMATION And Progress oF THE PROHIBITORY PARTY THE PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION AND WOMAN'S ADVANCEMENT. |